The engaged university. Linking the global and the local: ACA-CMEPIUS Conference 2019

The 2019 ACA-CMEPIUS conference was dedicated to the ‘engaged university’ to linking the global and the local. But what does this mean concretely?

The ‘core business’ of ACA and of CMEPIUS is internationalisation of higher education. Internationalisation is also one of the issues this event will deal with. But it was not the main theme and it was a theme only insofar as international activities impact on the – local – university. Much more than on internationalisation, the conference was about the engagement of higher education institutions with their local and regional ‘habitat’. This habitat consists of many actors: civil society at large, municipalities, companies, NGOs, and many more. The ‘engaged university’ is thus about the classical tasks of the university, i.e. teaching/learning and research. But more so still, it is about what some call the ‘third mission’ of higher education: outreach and service to and collaboration with non-academic actors. The Conference provided participants with the possibility to share ideas on and discuss how these dimensions can be enhanced by means of European and international project cooperation.

Josep M. Vilalta, GUNi Director, presented the GUNi 6th Higher Education in the World Report at the opening keynote speech 'Towards a socially responsible university: balancing the global with the local'. The 6th HEIW Report deals with the dual responsibilities of universities at local and global scale, exploring the potential conflict, or intrinsic difficulties, in addressing both local demands of society based on the race for global competitiveness and local and global demands to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable society, at local and global scales. It was was launched in Barcelona on the 10th March 2017 and it has been presented in several conferences and seminars around the world: Ghana, UK, Colombia, Mexico, Italy, Nigeria, South Africa...